---
title: And the twelve youths appeared and asked, “Swan-bird, fair maiden, w… — Russian Folk-Tales · tree and pragmatics
description: And the twelve youths appeared and asked, “Swan-bird, fair maiden, what do you bid us do?” Who acts: twelve youths, you. A sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 4, with its dependency tree and the pragmatics of every clause.
---

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# Russian Folk-Tales, Opening, part 4, sentence 65

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And the twelve youths appeared and asked, “Swan-bird, fair maiden, what do you bid us do?”

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**Who acts:** twelve youths, you · **What happens:** appear, ask, bid, do · **To what, where:** fair maiden · **Speech:** someone speaks here

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This is a sentence of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Opening, part 4. The page gives its syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause: who acts (twelve youths, you), what happens, when and where, as Mova's frames read it from the tree.

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**Mova's own parse.** This tree may be wrong.

## The tree {#tree}

```conllu
# sent_id = book:pg62509:4:65
# text = And the twelve youths appeared and asked, “Swan-bird, fair maiden, what do you bid us do?”
1	And	and	CCONJ	CC	_	5	cc	_	_
2	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	twelve	twelve	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	4	nummod	_	_
4	youths	youth	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
5	appeared	appear	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
7	asked	ask	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	5	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
8	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	12	punct	_	_
9	“	"	PUNCT	``	_	12	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	Swan	swan	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	12	compound	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	-	-	PUNCT	HYPH	_	10	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
12	bird	bird	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	15	punct	_	_
14	fair	fair	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	maiden	maiden	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	5	obl	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	20	punct	_	_
17	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	20	obj	_	_
18	do	do	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	20	aux	_	_
19	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	20	nsubj	_	_
20	bid	bid	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	15	acl:relcl	_	_
21	us	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	20	obj	_	_
22	do	do	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	20	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	22	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
24	”	"	PUNCT	''	_	15	punct	_	_
```

## Pragmatics {#pragmatics}

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| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **appear** | past | the twelve youths | fair maiden |  |  |  |  | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |
| 2 | **ask** *speech: ask* | past | the twelve youths *not said here* |  |  |  |  | Swan bird *ccomp* | vn inquire-37.1.2 «NP V»: agent=Agent |
| 3 | **bid** *in a quote* | present · do-support | you | fair maiden |  |  |  | us *obj* | tree rules |
| 4 | **do** *in a quote* | infinitive | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

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One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

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**Text:** «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev, Project Gutenberg book 62509 (public domain in the USA). **Tree:** Mova's own parse, Elamur Cosmic License. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), the chapter read in order.

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